Preview: Fulham (H)

Fulham are the visitors to The City Ground tonight as Nottingham Forest seek to get back to winning ways in the Sky Bet Championship.

Mark Warburton's side fell to defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday but will be returning to Trentside keen to bounce back.

Fulham have had an underwhelming start to the season after last year's play-off semi-final defeat. The Cottagers sit in the bottom half of the table heading into the match and Slavisa Jokanovic will be wanting more from his side if they are to challenge near the top again.

Team news

David Vaughan has been stepping up his recovery and is nearing a return but tonight's game will be too soon. Jamie Ward, Matty Cash and Chris Cohen remain sidelined while Danny Fox is a slight doubt.

From the opposition

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic said his side must have faith in their playing style and they will start picking up more consistent results.

Speaking after the draw against Middlesbrough, he said: "First of all we are a different team to last season, we are unlucky with many, many injured people at the beginning of the Championship and today we lost Floyd Ayité who is an important player for us.

"At the end this is the third time where we arrived with a few minutes with some kind of advantage and we didn't win the game.

"We arrived from one poor game against Burton, I know in the end the only important thing is our results and we haven't made enough good results to show Craven Cottage.

"I believe we played better football, I believe we played with our characteristics and I believe also we created enough things to not only score one goal but to score more goals.

"People say where is plan B, C and D but I don't believe these are better than plan A and in this moment we are going to try and follow in this style.

"I must be satisfied with the fight in my team and I must be satisfied with the performance against one of the top teams in the league but unfortunately we are disappointed because of one important situation in our box and we didn't make a good enough job and we paid an important price."

One to watch - Stefan Johansen

Norwegian midfielder Stefan Johansen is a key player in the Fulham midfield and is crucial to the way that Slavisa Jokanovic wants his side to play.

The 26-year-old is a technically-gifted player and his playmaking ability keeps The Cottagers ticking in midfield.

Johansen joined Fulham from Celtic in August 2016. The Norway international started his career at Bodo/Glimt and featured for Stromsgodset from 2011-2013 before his move to British football in January 2014.

Last visit

Tickets

Tickets are still available for tonight's game and can be purchased on arrivial at The City Ground. Full details can be found here.

Coverage

The game will be broadcast live on iFollow Forest for international subscribers, with audio commentary also available.

You can also follow the game in the Match Centre and via the club's official social media channels.

Other fixtures

All fixtures to be played on Tuesday at 7.45pm unless otherwise stated:

Forest 1-3 Fulham

26 September 2017

NFFC

Nottingham Forest suffered a fifth league defeat in six matches as they were beaten 3-1 by Fulham at The City Ground this evening.

Daryl Murphy's sixth goal of the season cancelled out Aboubakar Kamara's first-half opener for the visitors but Stefan Johansen and Neeskens Kebano struck after the break to send the points back to Craven Cottage.

Forest made three changes from the side beaten by Aston Villa at the weekend. Michael Mancienne came in to captain the side with Ben Osborn and Jason Cummings the other additions.

The home side were on the front foot from the start with Murphy testing David Button inside the opening five minutes. The striker cut inside from the right and attempted to curl the ball into the far corner but Button was equal to the challenge.

Despite Forest's early dominance it was the visitors who broke the deadlock after 13 minutes. Kamara raced on to a through-ball and finished confidently past Jordan Smith as The Reds' defence protested for offside.

That setback didn't dent the home side's confidence as they continued to drive forward at every opportunity. Murphy in particular was causing the visitors problems and the Irishman's neat turn inside the penalty area created a goalscoring opportunity but he failed to keep his effort down.

Forest and Murphy did eventually get their reward on 33 minutes. Cummings drifted into Fulham's half before finding Armand Traore out wide on the left. The Frenchman picked out Murphy at the back post and he directed his powerful header across Button's goal to level the scores.

The home side began the second half in the same positive mentality with which they ended the first. Murphy and Cummings were linking up well with the latter going close early on. The Scotsman found himself on the receiving end of a cut-back from Kieran Dowell but was unable to keep his shot down.

Despite the home side's dominance the visitors always looked dangerous on the break, Kamara in particular. The powerful striker nearly put Fulham ahead on 65 minutes after racing clear but his shot came back off the post.

The warning signs were there for Forest and the second goal came for Fulham shortly after that. Johansen curled in a spectacular free-kick from the edge of the penalty box leaving Jordan Smith with no chance.

The home side were running out of time as they went in search of a second equaliser, and it nearly came through Murphy on 83 minutes. Substitute Zach Clough played the striker through on goal but the number nine saw his effort roll agonisingly past the far post.

By this stage Forest were throwing everything at Fulham without managing to find a breakthrough. The more the home side pressed the more exposed they were at the back.

Kebano exploited that space with a minute to go to destroy any hopes of a Forest comeback. The substitute calmly finished past Smith after he latched on to a ball through from Yohan Mollo as the spoils went back to West London.